My Missing Piece
by pokemon fan 98
Summary: BASED ON THE PROMO FOR 6X01 "MISSING PIECES!" A theory about how Jemma wound up in the cryo-pod.
1. Chapter 1

_A/N: So the promo for season six dropped today. I was so excited to see it (I've already watched it multiple times, trying to figure out what's going on), I just can't wait for the season to actually start. There was one part that really has me wondering, though. If you haven't seen the promo, go watch it. If you have, this was inspired by the part with Jemma. It looked intense..._

* * *

"He will be disoriented," Enoch warned. "It may be best if I wake him from cryo-sleep."

"Not to be rude, but I'll be the one to wake him," Jemma said. Her tone brokered no argument, because on this, she wouldn't back down. "He'll won't believe you until he sees me anyway, so I may as well explain it." That, and the fact that she _needed_ to be the first one to see him. She'd never needed to do anything so much as she had to be the one to wake him up.

The others agreed to let her go alone, and planned to gather any supplies they could while she awakened Fitz. They didn't plan to stay long, and Enoch couldn't argue that showing the others where the supplies were hidden wasn't another priority. Finding Fitz, and getting the supplies to let them go home. Those were their only goals.

So she went into the room with his cryo-pod alone. Enoch had told her the pod would take a few minutes to power down, so she started it immediately. Then she allowed herself to look at him through the glass. The pod seemed roomier than she'd expected it to be. Still coffin-like, but he had a bit of space to move his head, in the first few seconds he returned to consciousness. Once the frost had melted from the glass, slight color returning to his pale face, she opened the pod.

Brilliant blue eyes shot open as Fitz gasped a breath, sliding over her and looking around. She watched as they were drawn back to her, as he realized she was standing in front of him. Probably taking in her slight change of appearance.

"Jemma."

She felt herself start smiling in relief at his voice. "Hi Fitz."

He was breathing roughly through his mouth, and she realized he was shaking with cold. She drew off her jacket and placed it around his shoulders, wishing she had a blanket. Fitz was staring at her as if she were the sun – his expression was the wonder of someone who hasn't seen the sun in ages, contrasted beautifully with the pain of one who has stared at its surface for too long. "You – I saw the video. You were swallowed by another monolith."

"That's all true," she said, in what she hoped was a calming tone. She couldn't be sure, because she was fighting back tears. "You solved it, Fitz. You saved us."

The sun-dazzled look was fading, but she could see the confusion lingering in his gaze. "How?"

She laughed breathlessly, mostly humorlessly. "It's a long story." She reached a hand out to touch his cheek, unable to stop herself any longer. His breath hitched ever so slightly, and then he placed one slowly warming hand over hers. "I finally found you," she said.

He started moving his legs, turning to step out of the pod. His legs buckled as his weight hit the floor, and Jemma swooped under his arm to keep him upright. He had himself braced on the other side with the table the pod rested on, and slowly straightened. Jemma could feel him trembling. "Sorry," he said.

"Don't be. Your muscles just need a minute to warm up. We'll get you a nice hot shower and some blankets and settle into our bed…"

"Sounds nice," he said in a low voice.

"One step at a time," Jemma prompted.

They took a step away from the pod, Jemma still holding onto Fitz in case he needed help. After two more steps he paused.

"Is something wrong?"

The corners of his mouth turned down. "No. I probably imagined it."

Jemma was curious but didn't press him as they made their way to the door. He wasn't leaning on her much, and then suddenly he stopped leaning on her at all. His body tensed. He turned to her, pulling her close urgently. His fingers were frozen as they touched the back of her neck, his lips much the same. Jemma didn't care, reaching up to cup his cheek and curl her own hand around the back of his neck, willing him to warm up faster.

She didn't realize they were moving until her back bumped up against the table the cryo-pod rested on, and then Fitz stopped kissing her. She could feel his breath on her lips, still unsteady. "I'm sorry," he whispered.

There was a familiar tone in his voice that snapped her back to alertness. Now she could hear what Fitz had probably heard before: a scraping sound like a stick being dragged across pavement. Before she could do anything more than look at him Fitz was lifting her up, pushing her into the cryo-pod. She drew in a sharp breath as she half-fell into it, turning swiftly to face him.

"Fitz, what are you -?"

He ripped her jacket off and threw it to the floor. "The creature's been here before. I doubt Enoch expected it to come back. It's drawn to heat," he said quickly. "Enoch told me about it. It never bothered him because he's a chronicom, but it can sense your body temperature."

"So let's get out of here, go back to the ship!"

He shook his head. "There's no time. My temperature's still low enough that it might not notice me. The pod will keep it from recognizing yours."

Jemma started moving to get out of the pod. "No, Fitz, it's too risky, we can make it!"

He kissed her hard for a second before shoving her flat, and then he closed the pod. Jemma immediately banged her hands against it. "Fitz!" she yelled. "Fitz, open it back up!"

"I'm right behind you," Fitz said loudly. "But you have to be quiet, or it'll definitely come in here."

She banged on the pod once more before his words registered. "Why didn't you get in here with me?" she demanded.

"The pod has to be locked for it to block your heat signature. It's our best chance of it leaving us alone. Besides, my temperature is low enough the creature might just move on."

His core body temperature may have been low, but it was rising with every minute. Enoch had told her the physical adjustment would be over with fairly quickly. That had to be the case, or Fitz wouldn't have been able to force her into the pod. If he warmed up too soon, then the creature… Her hand pressed against the top. "Fitz."

His voice was quieter. She could picture him crouched behind the table the pod rested on. "It's alright, Jem… I love you."

She could feel herself shaking now, as she looked out the glass window built into the cryo-pod. Her voice threatened to break as she framed the words, but she managed to get them out. "I love you too."

It was silent for about a minute, and then Jemma heard the noise again: a sound like a stick dragged across pavement, dull but grating. Her breath quickened. The sound disappeared. Jemma started to lift her head, trying to see the room. That was when something fell against the table, making it shift. In the same instant a hand moved across the glass, the fingers leaving trails of blood right above her head. Jemma's gaze locked on the vibrant red stripes, her throat blocked against a silent scream.

 _Fitz_ , she thought. _Please, Fitz, please still be lying right behind me. I can't lose you again, not this soon, not like this._

She didn't dare make a sound, and closed her eyes to block out that scarlet stain in her vision. A tear worked its way past her eye, running across her temple.

 _Please, Fitz._

 _Please._


	2. Chapter 2

She didn't know how long it was before she heard anything. Long enough for the tears to stop, though that wasn't a measurable unit of time. That could have been seconds or minutes. She was more inclined to think seconds.

"Jemma?"

The voice belonged to Daisy, and renewed Jemma's energy. She had to get to Fitz.

Jemma banged on the top of the cryo-pod, calling out "Daisy!" She heard the lock open and saw Daisy push the top back. She stared at her friend for a few seconds, then climbed to the floor and turned to the other side of the cryo-pod. Fitz wasn't there.

"What happened?" Daisy asked.

"Did you see Fitz?" Jemma asked roughly.

Daisy shook her head. "What's going on? Why were you in there?"

"Fitz was protecting me," Jemma said as she turned and hurried out of the door. There wasn't anything in the room except for the bit of blood on the cryo-pod. A quick examination of Daisy's hands showed that it wasn't from her – which meant it was likely from Fitz. "I think he drew the creature away, which means we have to get to him."

"What creature?"

"Does it matter?" She looked both ways in the hallway, knowing every second counted. She couldn't hear the scraping sound. Was that a good thing? "Fitz!" she called. If the creature was gone, her shout wouldn't do any harm. If it was still there, she hoped it came for her. That meant Fitz could get away.

"Jemma!"

She bolted in the direction of his voice, Daisy on her heels. She didn't have a weapon on her, but she didn't care in the slightest. They rounded a corner and found Fitz struggling with a mass of what looked like flesh thrust through with steel blades. Fitz was holding one of the blades in his hands, the edge broken unevenly. The creature had him backed into a corner of the room. He looked up when Jemma ran inside, and she saw terror flit through his eyes at the sight of her.

She didn't stop running, closing the distance and reaching for him. Daisy sent a vibrational blast at the creature, giving Jemma the chance to grab Fitz's arm and pull him out from the corner. Her hands stayed gripped tight on his arm.

"If you quake it hard enough, it should fall apart," Fitz said.

Daisy increased the force of the vibrations. The creature twisted and jerked, and the sound like a stick being dragged across pavement echoed in the room as one of its steel blades scraped the wall. It let out a hideous shriek and fell bodily to the floor, the blades landing with a clatter as the flesh deteriorated.

All three were still for several heartbeats, as if making sure the creature was dead. The sudden silence didn't last long. "Fitz, what on earth were you thinking?" Jemma yelled. "That creature could have killed you!"

"Jemma, I know, I -." His voice was calm, reasonable. She couldn't listen to it.

"We face these things together! Do you hear me? Don't ever do that to me again!"

"Simmons," Daisy said.

Jemma ignored her, looking hard at Fitz and feeling her pulse hammering away with every breath.

He seemed to realize how shaken she was, because he didn't try to explain himself. He just nodded. Part of Jemma knew she was being a bit hard on him. Every other part of her was confirming that he had to hear it, to know that she didn't want him to sacrifice himself for her.

Her eyes were drawn to his hands, still loosely holding the steel blade. It was slick with blood where he gripped it, and at her look he dropped it to the floor. She immediately took his right hand, inspecting the jagged wound from where he had gripped the hilt-less sword. It stretched across his palm, and she could see slices on his fingertips as well, the blood beginning to bead.

"I'll have to take care of that right when we get back to the ship," she said in a gentler voice.

"I know you two probably need a minute, but we might not have that kind of time. What was that thing?"

"Enoch didn't give me biology lessons," Fitz said shortly. "He just told me that sometimes aliens roam around here, and most of them aren't friendly. Especially not the stabbing ones."

Daisy looked like she wanted to push him for more information, but didn't. Jemma took advantage of Daisy's pause to move closer to Fitz, pressing herself up against his side. They may not have much time to loiter, but she would fight anything or anyone that tried to stop her from holding onto him for a moment. He wrapped his arms around her immediately, seemingly without conscious thought. Her pulse started to slow down.

"Where are the others?" she asked Daisy.

"Starting to bring supplies back to the ship."

"We'd better warn them about the creature," Fitz said. "I bet there are more."

Daisy led the way to the supply room. Fitz's hand served as Jemma's anchor as they walked, the contact allowing her to stay focused on the possible dangers around them instead of her roiling emotions. She knew that when they had a moment – truly had a moment, safely hidden within their bunk – her perilous control would break, and the emotions that were slamming against her with the force of tidal waves would break through and overwhelm her. But that would be in a little while. And she would have Fitz with her. They would fall apart together, and piece each other back into wholeness. But that would be in a little while.

For now, holding onto his hand was keeping her together just fine. So she didn't let go as they found their teammates and headed back to the ship. And from how tightly Fitz's hand was gripping hers, he was relying on her just as much as the other way around.

It was so much easier to hold it together when you weren't missing a piece of yourself.

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 _A/N: I really hope Fitz and Simmons get a reunion somewhat like this. But a lot of people are thinking we'll see The Doctor again, instead of our Fitz. I have a separate theory involving The Doctor, and Coulson... I'll try to develop it into a story if I can. I hope you liked this fic!_


End file.
